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Efforts to address income inequality generally focus on wealth redistribution through taxation and government benefits. But these efforts do not attack the core problem -- the unfair distribution of wealth at the firm level. This essay, a contribution to the "Inequality, Opportunity, and the Law of the Workplace" symposium, argues that workers need power within their firms to stake their claims to larger slices of the corporate pie. Even though the current law of the workplace does provide regulatory support for workers, it fails to change internal firm governance. Policymakers who want to take on income inequality as a structural matter should turn to corporate law and provide workers with a way of playing a role in the ongoing governance of the business.

Corporations are contested legal entities. Many see them merely as vehicles for financial and business elites to acquire and maintain unfettered power. In this paper, I look at the relationship between corporate power and corporate structures, and argue that corporate power is importantly located in the exploitation of the principles of separate personality of corporate entities and shareholder limited liability. Courts' unwillingness to pierce the corporate veil and to extend the liability of parent company/principal to the acts of a subsidiary/agent contributes to enabling the creation and exploitation of corporate networks. This is particularly problematic when the corporate creditors are tort victims, who do not assent to limited liability through voluntary transactions. The argument is supported by empirical evidence of the strategies of three asbestos firms to avoid accountability for their tortious conduct. These strategies were curbed only by recourse to criminal law by holding corporate personnel directly responsible for their corporate activities in question and by boycott and political mobilization.

Corporate groups have been very important in the economies of many developing countries, including prewar Japan, wherezaibatsucontrolled approximately one-third of the capital stock. Regression analysis of a new firm-level financial data set distinguishes the economic behavior ofzaibatsumember firms from independent firms. The only significant difference between old-zaibatsumember firms and independent firms is that some measures of earnings of oldzaibatsuwere less stable. The earnings of new-zaibatsufirms were higher, faster-growing and less variable than those of independent firms. These results cast doubt on the anecdotal literature about oldzaibatsu.

Includes bibliographical references ; South Africa has seen many developments in both the areas of corporate law and tax legislation. The legislation in question has developed from an apartheid or pre-democratic era to that of the current democratic South Africa, in which individuals have the freedom to become entrepreneurs, and have the opportunity to start up small to medium and larger enterprises, in order to firstly make a profit but also to ensure that they enjoy the benefits which the separate legal personality of Corporate Structures are entitled to. The focus of the research was to carefully study Corporate Structures created by directors and other entities and to show how these personalities make use of various arrangements to reduce tax liability, both by lawful and unlawful methods. In addition to this, the research involved a close analysis a of how a Corporate Structure is formed, from the date of incorporation of the entity, to the rights, and duties of the entity, the rights and duties of the role-players such as directors and shareholders, who control the entity and make the necessary decisions relating to the entity. The thesis focuses on the tests used by the courts to examine the true commercial substance of Corporate Structures and the arrangements put in place by these entities or individuals mentioned above. The above approach was applied by analysing the principle of Piercing the Corporate Veil both at common law and statutory level, the principles of Substance over Form, General Anti-Avoidance provisions and the Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011 provisions, in light of the Anti-Avoidance provisions. It is trite law that taxpayers are allowed to arrange their affairs or commercial activities in a manner in which they may gain a tax advantage provided they do so, within the ambit of the law. The effect of the taxpayer having such freedoms is that many of the contracting parties or taxpayers abuse the legislative provisions and enter into transactions and commercial activities which circumvent the legal provisions. The framework of the analysis was to look at the Companies Act 71 of 2008, Income Tax 58 of 1962 and the Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011 Acts respectively. The result of the research has shown that the tests put forward by the courts assist in ensuring that the principle of separate legal personality is upheld, taxpayers such as entities are free to arrange their affairs in a manner that allows a certain tax advantage provided it is within the ambit of the law. The study has shown that the doctrine of separate legal personality is upheld within our current legal system. There are many tax and legal benefits to natural persons establishing an entity; however these benefits should not lead to abuse by entities. Lastly, the courts will carefully scrutinise the commercial substance of a transaction and test whether the parties to the transaction have acted in accordance with the true principles of the transactions, the conclusion herein is therefore that the law should not interpret the modern commercial world with a closed minded approach and legislate strictly, without considering all the circumstances of a matter in light of the necessary law and policy considerations and in so doing, rather adopt a modern commercial minded approach. As a growing South African economy, entities should be permitted to arrange their commercial transactions and affairs in the best possible way to obtain a legal tax benefit and make profits which will ultimately ensure that we have a sustainable economy and strong Corporate Structures in place, in order to be placed in a stronger position in terms of an African perspective and compete more competitively at an International level.

The National Transport Authority was established originally as a land-use and transport planning agency whose aim was to coordinate and integrate transport infrastructure and service delivery in the Greater Dublin Area and, subsequently, to manage public passenger transport licensing nationally. This paper looks at the corporate structure of the NTA and, comparing it to other transport systems, assesses its incorporation, particularly in terms of accountability. Many analysts consider institutional arrangement as the most fundamental aspect of delivering effective transport systems. A range of governance systems exist for urban transport authorities. The NTA most closely reflects the model of a public agency with sub-contracted services. Within this structure, levels of accountability and integration with local democracy appear to be very limited, with little or no public representation and the agency excerpting control over all land use development plans within its administrative area. Evidence from other jurisdictions indicates that those systems with high levels of democratic involvement and the most effective distribution of strategic, tactical and operational planning lead to the most efficient and sustainable transport networks. Analysis of the NTA corporate structure suggests that, while it possesses strong strategic and planning controls, a number of factors – including its lack of accountability, its unclear relationship with other transport agencies and its overly broad geographic remit – may hinder its ability to deliver its stated objectives. Comparison with the public transport federation or "verkehrsverbund" model, in particular, show that increased democratic involvement, combined with greater powers over operational agencies may be a more effective means to creating a sustainable transport network. A recent bill and current government policy also suggest that this may be a more appropriate direction for the Greater Dublin Area if accountability is to be pursued as an objective.